Luke 16:13 says, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
In today’s terms, the last line would read, “You can’t serve God and money.”
I feel like, as a society, we understand this. We preach this, teach this, and repost about this.
We understand we cannot serve God and money, but that is only one example. The first sentence reads, “No servant can serve two masters…” Which means…
You can’t serve God and materialistic desires.
You can’t serve God and your flesh.
You can’t serve God and social media.
You can’t serve God and the opinion of others.
And that’s where I’d like to land today: you can’t serve God and the opinion of others.
Serving the opinion of others, from my perspective, means:
Holding the opinion of others above the opinion of God. Therefore, making choices to please man opposed to those which please God.
One of the greatest Biblical examples of this, in my opinion, is that of David. When we look at David’s younger years, everyone around him, including his family, doubted him. They labeled him as too young, ruddy, incapable, naughty, prideful, and of a fair countenance (1 Samuel 17: 28, 33, 42).
However, God labeled David as loyal, brave, faithful, a shepherd (a description given to Jesus as well), humble, victorious, a CHOSEN CHILD OF GOD, and even a man after His own heart.
What if David would have valued the opinion of others over the opinion of God? What if David would have let the labels scripted on him by others override the labels God intentionally, divinely placed on his life?
Well… Goliath wouldn’t have fallen. The Israelites wouldn’t have prevailed. Many would not have seen the power and glory of God throughout David’s life.
The same is true for us as well. If you choose to believe the opinions of the world are true of you, it will inhibit your impact.
If you believe you are too young, you will never take the leap.
If you believe you are incapable, you will never conquer the mountain.
HOWEVER,
If you believe you are both faithful and victorious (if you don’t know, you already are in Christ! He won the ultimate victory, and we inherit it as children of God), then you will be victorious. Even if you do not meet worldly standards of success, as long as you are following God’s calling, you will find yourself exactly where you need to be.
This week, I encourage you to proactively choose the opinion and beliefs of God over those of the world, even those opinions that come from those closest to you.
